To use Macbeths' want of power against him once more, Lady Macbeth goes on to say how courageous and trustworthy she is. She says to him that if she had ‘sworn as you have done to this’ then she would have “dashed the brains out” of the baby she loves. This shows a new side to Lady Macbeth. I think it is part of a false façade she puts on as we do not see her being so violent anywhere else in the play. In actual fact, Macbeth had not ‘sworn’ to murder the king
Following lady Macbeth saying that she would kill her own baby if she had promised to, Macbeths’ courage returns slightly and asking what would happen if the plan failed, lady Macbeth replies sweetly, “We fail?”. This shows how confident and determined that she is. Then, she unfolds her plan of the murder to Macbeth, making it sound so simple to Macbeth that he cannot refuse any longer. Her plan was to make the kings servants drunk and for Macbeth to murder the king in his sleep with a dagger. For such a complicated character, Lady Macbeth makes only a simple plot of murder.
I think that lady Macbeth is a very strong leader. She is able to twist her words to suit the situation at hand. At this point she chose to be simple in her phrasing. I think that she speaks simply of the murder to Macbeth, so as he can add to it with his own imagination, and make him think that he made the plan. Thus making him feel more independent and dominant.
Lady Macbeths’ tactics worked so well that Macbeth began to tell her how to act, with “false face must hide what the false heart doth know.” This shows that her use of words was working.
The third time we see Lady Macbeth is in Act two Scene two. This is the scene when Macbeth murders the king and becomes terrified with what he has done. Lady Macbeth tries to comfort him with her false courage and simple manner.
At the beginning of this scene, Lady Macbeth admits “That which hath made them drunk hath made me/ Bold.” this shows immediately that she is lying about her courage and bravery. At the beginning of the play she is seen by all as a strong hearted, ambitious and bold woman. We then know that she calls upon evil spirits to help her to persuade Macbeth to kill the king Duncan. Now she is using drink to make her ‘bold’. We can now see another side to her character. Where she once questioned Macbeths' hope to have come from drinking, she now drinks for strength herself. I think this shows that she is quite insecure with herself. Added with her calling upon evil spirits, I think that lady Macbeth really is a troubled character.
When Lady Macbeth hears Macbeths’ voice from within the kings’ chamber, she speaks softly to herself, letting something out that really contrasts with what were her own words. When Macbeth was having doubts about the murder, she said she would have killed her own baby if was promised. Now, when it comes to the time of the murder, she says she could not have killed the king herself because he “resembled/ My father as he slept”. I think when she is alone she no longer wears the false façade of bravery. Alone she is weak.
When Macbeth comes back from the murder with bloody hands and the daggers used to kill the king, he is sorry at what he sees. At once, Lady Macbeths’ false façade is back and she tells him to “Consider it not so deeply.” or else “it will make us mad.”
Macbeth continues to regret and worry and what he says next curses Lady Macbeth later in the play. He claims to have heard a voice say, “Sleep no more!” Lady Macbeth ignores this comment and begins to tell Macbeth that his ‘noble strength’ is unbending. I think in this way she is trying too taunt Macbeth again, as she has done from the start of the play. Whenever Macbeth shows any signs of a faltering courage, Lady Macbeth taunts him with evil comments and remarks about his masculinity and self-confidence. This makes Lady Macbeth seem more powerful to Macbeth and to the reader.
I do not think that lady Macbeth is naturally a powerful woman. I think that when she called upon the evil spirits in act one scene five, she became confused. I think that she believes she can live the life of an amazingly strong, courageous and powerful woman. However, when she no longer needs to live this life, when Macbeth is no longer around, then she becomes weak, regretful and cowardly. I think that these strong changes in character will have drastic effects on the soundness of Lady Macbeths’ mind.
The false courage of Lady Macbeth is seen again in this scene. When Macbeth comes from the murder, his hands are covered in blood and he fears that he will never get them clean. He fears that if he put his hands in the seas of the world, they would turn red from the amount of blood sees on them. Lady Macbeth ignores his comments yet again and points out to him that “A little water clears us of this deed”. She seems to try to dismiss all of Macbeths' fears. I think that this shows her love him, in a way, as she does not want him to be scared. Yet when he questions with fear, what are to lady Macbeth great matters, such as the murder itself, she uses her love against him, as was seen in act one scene seven.
The scene ends with Lady Macbeth and Macbeth returning to their bedchamber. As they do so, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth, “Be not lost/ So poorly in your thoughts.” I think this is quite ironic, as I think Lady Macbeth is quite lost in her mind seeing as she cannot keep to one personality.
The next time we see Lady Macbeth is for a short period in Act two Scene two. It is the morning after the murder and the king has been found dead. Macbeth rightly plays his part as lady Macbeth has told him to do so. However, he does something that lady Macbeth had not told him to do or planned to do. He kills the kings' servants who Lady Macbeth had planned to be framed for the murder of the king. When Macbeth tries to explain to some of the other kinsmen, why he killed the servants, lady Macbeth can sense that they are suspicious of Macbeth and so she pretends that the murder is all to much for her and she faints. I think that this was a clever way of distracting the attention of Macbeth and I think that lady Macbeth is a very quick witted woman as she can think of solutions in an instance.
When we next see Lady Macbeth, it is in act three scene two. In this scene, Lady Macbeth regrets slightly the murder of King Duncan. When Macbeth enters the scene and they speak to one another, it is a reflection of how they spoke in earlier scenes, such as act one scene seven. When once Macbeth hung onto Lady Macbeths' every word, now she begins to show her tender side to Macbeth.
At the beginning of the scene, Lady Macbeth talks to herself about the murder. She is regretting and believes that, for all their trouble, she and Macbeth have gained nothing. She believes that their “desire is got without content” and also remarks that she would feel safer to be dead, just like king Duncan. When she wishes to speak to her husband, she has to ask a servant to call him for her; this shows just how distant their relationship is growing since the kings’ murder. I think that, with the distance, lady Macbeth must be spending much more time on her own, this would mean that she is becoming more attached to the weak, regretful and cowardly personality and is loosing here false façade of courage and power.
At the beginning of the other scenes, when Macbeth is speaking first and announces his doubts to her, Lady Macbeth would come in and taunt him then praise him till he was sufficiently happy. When Macbeth comes into this scene he does not care for Lady Macbeths' worries, he begins to talk about how he must kill others to protect his kingship. At this, lady Macbeth tries to talk Macbeth out of murdering others, of whom he has picked Banquo and his son Fleance to kill, but her small sentences such as ‘You must leave this.’ are nothing to Macbeths’ instructions.
Soon lady Macbeths asks “What’s to be done?” but now Macbeth keeps her in the dark and tells her to be innocent of knowledge. From her strength throughout the beginning of the play and before the murder, I thought that Lady Macbeth would have stood up to her husband and told him what to do or begin to taunt him as she so often did but it seems as though she wont be taunting him again. I think that it is here that the relationship roles change. Macbeth is now certainly the dominant partner.
The fifth time in the play that we see Lady Macbeth is in Act three Scene four. In this scene Macbeth and lady Macbeth hold a banquet for all the lords and kinsman of Macbeth. In this scene we see how Lady Macbeth still loves Macbeth that she will stand up and help him when the feast has an inconvenience that upsets some of the guests. The ghost of the murdered Banquo is seen by Macbeth and not others and Lady Macbeth has to divert the attention of all the guests.
At the beginning of the scene the guests are arriving and all seems well. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth to stay seated on her throne and that “in best time”, then he will “require her welcome”’ for the guests. I think that this shows immediately the change in partnership roles and how little power Lady Macbeth has over Macbeth now.
When Macbeth ahs a small talk with the murderer of Banquo, then lady Macbeth does not complain but only comments that Macbeth “do not give the cheer” for the feast as he should seeing as he is the host. Lady Macbeth praises him slightly and says to him that the feast is no good if he does not entertain the guests. I think that lady Macbeth says this as she has lost all her moral strength to complain or taunt Macbeth. He does not use this to his advantage though, as she might have done to him, but still he does not encourage her to play a more active humble hostess as he did before the murder of King Duncan.
However, when Macbeth claims to see and starts shouting at Banquos ghost, Lady Macbeths' character strengthens starts to protect Macbeth. She begins to make excuses for his odd behaviour and instructs the guests on what to do. She claims that if they watch Macbeth or talk to him it will “extend his passion” and make his behaviour worse. She instructs the guests to “keep seat; the fit is momentary” and tries to calm the guests by playing the humble hostess.
As in act two scene three, she diverts attention from Macbeth when she thinks he could be acting suspiciously or when she feels he could accidentally admit to having murdered the king. At one point in the scene, she tries to taunt Macbeth a little asking “Are you a man?” As Macbeth has not had Lady Macbeth taunt him for a while and he has become independent, he does not care for her remarks and so lady Macbeth can do nothing to control her husband.
When the ghost disappears, Lady Macbeth tries again to taunt Macbeth and tells him that he is “quite unmanned in folly” She tries to use what had once worked, the fact that he wanted to be seen as manly, but he no longer cares for her taunts. When Macbeth comes to his senses he makes a toast to Banquo and the ghost reappears again.
At this appearance, Lady Macbeth instructs the guests to leave the feast. Some guests try to talk to the Macbeth but Lady Macbeth distracts them from him by telling them that “Questions enrages him” and that they should “speak not” but goes at once. I think that this was a sensible thing for Lady Macbeth to do, although it may have raised some suspicion from the guests.
When Macbeth claims to see the ghost, Lady Macbeth wears a false façade of wisdom and insight which calms the guests. I think that lady Macbeth is a great actress and a loyal wife to Macbeth.
When the guests eventually leave, Lady Macbeth stops using the false façade and becomes more tender, soft and lenient towards Macbeth. I think that now Macbeth does not need Lady Macbeth to control him and to instruct him, she only acts strong and bold when they are together in public, like at the feast. I think that Lady Macbeth relied on Macbeths' needing her to be powerful, controlling and dominant in their partnership.
The last time we see Lady Macbeth is in act five scene one. In this scene, she is caught sleep walking by a doctor and a gentlewoman. The gentlewoman had seen her do this before and said that she would rise from her bed, put on her nightgown, open a closet nearby, take from it paper, fold the paper, write on the paper, read it, seal it and then return to her bed.
When Lady Macbeth enters the scene, she walks in carrying a taper to light her way, though she is deep in sleep. She has commanded that she always have light by her and this I think is because she is afraid of the thick black night. When we first met her in the play, she called upon evil spirits to make thick the night so that heaven could not look down and see the murder of the king. I think that because of calling on a black night, Lady Macbeth believes that heaven can still not see her or protect her and so she has to carry a light to feel safe. Where once she called upon evil spirits and freely let them into her, I think she is afraid of them and tries to ward them away from her using light.
Another action she does while asleep is to rub her hands continuously, as if she is washing her hands. Earlier in the play she said to Macbeth that a little water would wash away the blood stains, but here she is seen to be mulling over the “Damned spot!” on her hand.
In act two scene two, when Macbeth said “Sleep no more!” I think that this cursed Lady Macbeth, as now she does not sleep at all but sleepwalks aimlessly through each night. I also think that subconsciously she can remember all that Macbeth has said, such as “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand” and also all that she has said such as, “it will make us mad.” With these, her mind is making what has been said be integrated into her life.
Macbeth is a play about courage manipulation and of love. Macbeth uses his passion for power and acknowledgement of masculinity, to become king of Scotland. Without the help of one woman however, he could not have succeeded. Lady Macbeth is so full of blind love for Macbeth, that she becomes the backbone of his personality and in turn drives herself to suicide.
